St Patrick's Day

The daffodils, 'St Patrick's Day', planted beneath the fruit trees, are still only in green leaf, not a flower to be seen.

Other, un-named varieties are putting on a better show.

This is the Corsican hellebore that rampages all about my garden. It provided a great many small plants for the seed swap last Saturday.

The local fields have been ploughed and the hedges trimmed. There are few signs yet of growth and colour

but in the woods the bluebell leaves are carpeting the ground with green

and wild violets are growing all over my apology for a lawn.

Crystalized flowers.

Dip the flower heads in white of egg that has been thinned with  rose water or similar, then lightly dredge with castor sugar and place on greaseproof paper to dry.

Once dry they will keep in an airtight container for months. Good for decorating cakes and trifles.
Handle with care and remember to use only edible flowers!

The rhubarb has outgrown its forcing pot and is ready to eat.

It is still too cold for me to enjoy being out in the garden for very long. My kitchen is the best place to be on a cold, spring day.

 Home made lemon curd.  

 6 oz butter, melt in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Add

12 oz sugar, dissolve, then add

 6  lemons, juice and grated rind

 6 eggs, well beaten. Stir thoroughly until the mixture thickens. Pour into jars and cover when cold.

With lemon curd and crystalized violets the most delicious thing to make is Nigel Slater's 

Lemon Trifle

100 g sponge fingers

100 g lemon curd

3 tbsp limoncello liqueur

500 ml double cream

120 g castor sugar

100 ml lemon juice

Decorate with

250 ml cream, whipped or double

grated zest of an orange

crystalized violets. 

Break the sponge fingers in half and spread with curd. Place in dish and sprinkle with limoncello.

Pour 500 ml cream into saucepan with sugar and bring to the boil over a moderate heat. Simmer for three minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, then pour over the fingers. Cool, then refrigerate.

Whip cream until thick, smooth over trifle and decorate with orange zest and violets.

Seed Swap

This morning I went to a seed swap. Here I am setting up my trestle table with some of the many plants that seem to riot in my garden, Corsican hellebores, aquilegia  and the like. I also made up a good number of seed packets, all ready to swap! I am given a table next to a lovely selling stall, Thomas Etty Esq. He spots my blackcurrant plants and we immediately arrange a swap - my 'Ben Sarek' for his 'Lazy Housewife' and 'Drunken Woman'. I don't really need either kidney bean or lettuce seed, but who can resist names such as these?  

Cars have come laden with all sorts of goodies

and set up stall in the village hall.

Goose eggs.

It's treasure trove!

There's even music and dancing.

The female Somerset Morris group with their beribboned two metre wooden staves with distinctive brass metal heads. There are differing patterns for each village.  In other parts of the country the stave heads were made of wood and few have survived. 

The Somerset Morris musicians play to dances that originate from the Friendly Societies which were a vital feature of life for working people in the last half of the eighteenth century.

Members of these societies were given help in times of ill health and hardship and were also provided with a decent burial.

The Jubilee Morris Men take over the entertainment.

Wearing bells and waving handkerchiefs is such hard work

It's followed by the serious business of drinking tea.

Characters? Us!

A room full of gardening enthusiasts, what could be nicer? Now that we have our choice of seeds everyone is champing at the bit for the soil to warm up enough for planting.

Just look at the swaps that I brought home!

Pancake Day

I have been baking from this little Bero booklet since childhood. To describe it as 'dog-eared' is no over statement! I'm going to have to copy the pages on my scanner before they disintegrate completely.  A friend took pity and bought me a new edition but it isn't the same. (Sorry Judith!)

Today is the day before Lent, Pancake Day, when people traditionally use up their fat, sugar and eggs before the start of the fasting season.

We always squeeze plenty of lemon onto the cooked pancakes.

It has been a long winter for my citrus trees under glass. They have suffered some die back and fruit drop and are now covered in black mould. Nevertheless they are preparing to come into flower and I anticipate the wonderful perfume with pleasure.

 
The fruit from my 'Meyer' lemon is small but very tasty.

Himself exhibiting such casual style, such natural skill.....

Oops, one for the dog!

Oh, the excitement, the concentration, the terrible facial expression! At least all mine ended up back in the frying pan

and then onto the plate.

Flippin' scrumptious!

And things are looking good inside the rhubarb forcer!

Cold, dry weather. We had  a good bonfire with all the debris from the fruit tree prunings.

far too frosty for any planting out but one or two brave daffodils are in flower.

There are plenty of things that need attention in the garden, today Himself replaced some rotten sections of wood on a garden seat.

Lots of pots in the greenhouse just waiting for the frosts to end before they can be put outside.

The hellebores are flowering despite the cold

but it is far more pleasant to be indoors.

In the evening my neighbours Kim and Andy took me to a talk on the conservation of British owls. The speaker, Ian McGuire of Wild Owl, was accompanied throughout by this beautiful barn owl, chirruping softly to him. Lack of suitable habitat to support field voles and similar prey is the reason why these wonderful creatures are so much at risk in the wild.